Liner notes from the Japanese edition of Harmony Corruption

Napalm's tour of Japan in July 1989 in many ways was another turning point for a band that over the last 8 years has had over a dozen member changes and several drastic sounding turns of style. I was there at the Woodstock store in Shinjuku when rising tensions came to a head following drummer Mick and bassist Shane's rip-off of several Heavy Metal CD's from Kinnie around the corner. Fed up with trashed hotel rooms, street violence with baseball bats and a newly found obsession for money, Bill Steer (guitar) and Lee Dorrian (vocal) decided to quit the band.

Napalm Death first came into being in 1982 as a Birmingham based band largely apeing Crass. Their first debut recording came out on Crass' third compilation album "Bullshit Detector." This early music had a definite "dischargey" feel, but it wasn't until early 1986, when Mick Harris and later Lee Dorrian joined the band, that they started going for the real speed extremities, combining the manic speed of the legendary 1984 Boston band Siege (who never recorded) with Celtic Frost's heavier riffs, and the low-toned sick vocals of Japan's Gism. But the overwhelming power of short-lived Detroit death metal maniacs Repulsion remain the most long-lasting influence, as all Napalm members are quick to acknowledge.

Repulsion's album "Horrified" (re-issued on Earache) and circulating collector's demo tapes of Siege are essential listening for anyone interested in the roots of high speed noisecore such as Napalm Death's.

The development of hardcore/punk music since it's growth out of the new American stance of musicians like The Ramones, Iggy Pop, Mc5, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, etc., has been a rich and exciting one. One that parallels in many ways the growth of 1980's Hip-Hop from the Disco/Club-Dance scene in the 70's into the multifaceted international musical revolution it is today. Black youth had Rap music as its release and means of expressing aggression against society - white youth had hardcore. *(1)

The world is made on the exchange of information. I don't believe art is created in a vacuum. Influences go back and forth across the Atlantic and the Pacific, inspiring both mimicry and originality in bands around the world. The tiresome debate of British vs. American hardcore that you still see on punk club bathroom walls is pointless. "Britcore is the only true Punk - Yankee go home" ~ "where would British Punk be without Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Patti Smith you stupid limey fuckhead" etc. etc. *(2)

In the beginning, young scenes are always built on cooperation. Support systems are built in. They do not rely on critic's reviews (they have fanzines), record companies (they start their own), or outside help of any kind. They create their own scene, supplied with it's own fuel, and survive on their own terms. The British Noise Core scene in the mid 80's was very much this way - with Heresy and Concrete Sox splitting two sides of an LP (Earache #2), Mick Harris playing in as many as 4 bands at once, etc., etc.

As bands exchanged tapes back and forth, the speed-phase slip factor of n-th generation dubs helped push speed to the limits; bands like Discharge + Hüsker Dü inspired shorter and even faster songs from bands like DRI, Die Kreuzen, and Siege, which then pushed bands to the extreme epitomized by the crucial British Midlands Hardcore scene in the late 1980's, which centered around Napalm Death, or more specifically Mick Harris.

Napalm seems now, as then, as some sort of apex; a late 80's focal point in many ways, with members joining and splitting to form their own bands: Bill Steer with Carcass, Justin Broadrick with Godflesh, etc... eventually, the early cooperation turned more toward finding their own sound.

But Napalm had a great name, an extreme concept, and one of the best drummers in the world: Mick Harris. It seemed obvious that they were destined to not only endure, but to grow as a band + as musicians.

Any scene is filled with posers, and the Hardcore scene has more than its share of kids who think its only too cool to be in a band on stage, and don't think much beyond how much gel to put in their hair, or who to fuck after the gig is over.

In Japan, these are the kids who walk around with their punk outfits in small cases, and who, after work, go into the bathroom, change out their suits + ties, put on their punk regalia, and parade around with a sneer plastered on one of their 2 faces. Yamasuka Eye calls them "otaku punks." The "looks" are there but the "kokoro" is not.

You can be assured that Napalm Death is the real thing. These guys live for their music, they believe in it. And we believe in them; and when you find someone you believe in, its always best to give them the benefit of the doubt. Even if they do something you don't like, usually is best to stick with it until you do. It's about trust.

Napalm is a band of dedicated musicians on a path. And in their search it's fortunate for the world that they have the courage to do whatever the fuck they want and not being intimidated by music writers (positive or negative), obsessive fans, money, or record company executives.

Harmony Corruption is pure Napalm. The new lineup features 2 Americans ("yanks"): Las Vegas born'n'bred Mitch Harris, from the Righteous Pigs and Mexican/American Jesse Pintado formerly in L.A. band Terrorizer on guitars, and vocalist Barney Greenway from Benediction.

2 years in the making, purist hoping for the same muddy sound as on Scum should be warned: this is the clearest, strongest Napalm sound since the Peel Sessions of 1987-1988. Mick Harris: "We liked the sounds that Scott had got for other bands, like Death on "Leprosy," although we didn't want exactly the same sounds. Scott understands us. As soon as a lot of engineers hear our fast stuff, it's like, bloody hell, what am I supposed to do with that? Scott knew we were fast and has dealt with fast bands before." Scum was recorded to 8-track. From Enslavement to Obliteration to 16-track. Harmony Corruption to 24-track by Scott Burns at Morrisound Studio, Tampa Florida (where label mates Morbid Angel record) and he has gotten a definite Napalm sound: heavy + powerful, with plenty of clarity on Mick's upfront drumming + cymbal work.

Musically speaking, you can hear them moving toward metal a bit in combining heavier riffs with their trade mark "blast beat" chuffing clusters, fast thrash with slower (dare I say it?) melodic ideas. The songs are getting longer + more complex, and a variety of influences are coming into play: from the Swans (check out their soon to be released third Peel Session) to Coil (in the Industrial title track "Harmony Corruption" strangely available only on the "Suffer the Children" single.) Guitar solo space is also becoming more evident. But for me, the intensity and extremeness of Mick Harris' writing is as powerful as ever: "Extremity Retained" (an apt title) "Suffer the Children" and "Hiding Behind."

MICK HARRIS: "It's hard to write a song under three minutes. An you can't put any kind of progression into a song that lasts under a minute. The point is, we've done 20 songs like that on the last album. Another idea comes up, another riff, and the song just builds!"

BARNEY: "It would be so fucking hard to write 30 second songs for 4 LP's. Each song has got to sound slightly different. Your brains would explode. These songs to me are like three of old ones shoved together.

SHANE EMBURY: "We were more into trying to keep the intensity up live. The old line-up would blast 20 or 30 second songs out, and there'd be a stop every minute. It would lose something, you couldn't really get into it, but now we mix the old stuff and the new, it's just much more intense. We all get into it more, it's just a better show live." *(3)

One of the secrets of Napalm's sound is the way they tune down their guitars, from E in concert to D or C#.

SHANE EMBURY: "We want to get back to our original tuning which is C#. On this album it's D, which is two below concert pitch. With Napalm, there're certain riffs that people can't hear, and that sort of worries me slightly. We want to get those riffs through."

MICK HARRIS: "Entombed did an album at 5 below but it's not fast. If we tuned to C# now (3 below) it would just be mud. We recently did another Peel Session, which is the most extreme thing we've recorded, ridiculously fast, and everyone who's heard it has said it's muddy, because we tuned a half step lower than we did for the LP, to C#. A lot of bands think that if they down-tune to four or five below (C or B), they're a heavy band. It's the riffs that are heavy!"

These are musicians not content with simply developing a set formula and then regurgitating it over and over, beating it into the ground. They are exploring all aspects of the musical language, listening, growing, and changing. Just as each song must be different, each album must be different. And this is what separates them from so many other hardcore/metal bands.

Their music has a purity and integrity that demands not only your attention, but also your respect. This is not some kind of "market place" shit. It's music itself, and gets better on repeated listenings.

Whether you like this music or not, doesn't matter. Napalm is a great band at the height of it's power, making important music. And to the purists that think Napalm has sold-out
to Metal in recent years, Mick Harris has a message for you: FUCK OFF.

* (1) Rappers Beasty Boys + 3rd Bass, and bands like Bad Brains and 24-7 Spyz are just a few examples of how the music eventually transcends initial cultural/racial biases. Let's gladly erase these lines of black and white.

* (2) What pisses me off is the underappreciation + ignorance of the American influence on British Punk here in Japan. Being largely a fashion-based society, Japan was much more aware of Malcom McLaren's rock + roll swindle advertising scum the "Sex Pistols" in the mid-70's than it was of the music that gave them birth- early 70's US punk. Musically speaking, Iggy's early music remains as fresh and strong today as when it was recorded, while the Sex Pistols sound downright embarrassing.

* (3) Napalm fanatics should also buy the LP format of Harmony Corruption, which includes a free live 9 track 12 inch recorded at the ICA in London, June 29 1990.

A few questions asked to Mick Harris.

(1) What did you do last night?
I stayed in and listened to my Archenemy (3/86) Repulsion (4/9/86) Death (8/85) Massacre (25/5/86) and Master (5/85) rehearsal demos.

(2) Who are your favorite singers/musicians?
Chuck from Death, Rick Ross and Kam Lee form Massacre, Scott, Ron and Matt from Repulsion, Gene Hoglan from Dark Angel, Mr. Anus and Mr. HCI from Happy Flowers, Miley Dee (ex-King Diamond), Brian Eno and Harold Budd, the Cocteau Twins.

(3) What do you consider to be your greatest strength?
Being able to do the "blast beat".

(4) What do you consider to be your greatest weakness?
Being weakened.

(5) Who would you most like to meet?
Ed Gein, and tell him what a whirlwind he was.

(6) What is our favorite article of clothing?
A Repulsion T-shirt given to me by a fan when we played in Brazil.

(7) What's your favorite word?
Chuffed.

(8) What annoys you most?
Being woken by noise or direct sunlight from open curtains- it's so bloody weakening.


John Zorn, Tokyo Sept 1990